The Hills. New centre operator

The Hills Shire Council has offered the Sydney Christian Outreach Centre a three-year lease as operator of The Hills Centre. Council called for expressions of interest for the lease of the entrainment venue in July last year. The seven-year lease held by Pegasus Venue Management expired on December 31.

Oran Park. 'Town' project underway

Developer Mark Perich told a Liverpool Chamber of Commerce meeting that Oran Park would be “a complete town when it's finished”. He said his family-run development company, Greenfields, had rezoned the former race track to contain 8500 residential blocks and 17 builders were currently putting together display homes and he was hopefully the project would encourage businesses and employers to the area. “Camden Council is considering moving its administration building there as well, because Oran Park is actually in the direct centre of the Camden Council area,” he said

St Marys. Greening a local business

Kennards Hire has teamed up with SolarSwitch, in a pilot project, to install a 10kW solar electricity system to make its St Marys premises greener. The 56-panel installation would generate about $9000 of solar power annually, more than covering its annual electricity bill. It would also save more than 13 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually. “We are trialling the solar panels at our St Marys branch and, if successful, we hope to install them in our hire centres throughout NSW,” said Cameron Kennard, MD, of Keneco Property, Kennards’ property division. He said an investment of about $50,000 (after rebates) would pay for itself in about five years then generate 20 to 30 years of free electricity. Kennards Hire operates more than 100 hire centres nationally and employs more than 900 staff.